Lucy's Eclectic Literature Club for August

For August, we'll read How Nancy Drew Saved My Life, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted.

In her fourth novel, Baratz-Logsted, author of The Thin Pink Line (2003), offers the charming tale of a literature-loving nanny. At 23, Charlotte Bell has just had her heart broken by the married man she unwisely fell in love with. She decides to take another position, as nanny for the American ambassador in Iceland. Once she takes up residence in the large, creaky house and meets her imperious, forbidding employer, Edgar Rawlings, she can't help but feel like literature's most famous governess, Jane Eyre. But Charlotte turns to Nancy Drew (channeling the girl detective) for help investigating the more puzzling aspects of her situation, such as the silence surrounding Edgar's mysteriously absent wife and the strange laughter she hears coming from behind a closed door. To make matters worse, Charlotte is starting to fall for Edgar, whose engagement to an Icelandic ice queen seems imminent. Readers who appreciate classic love stories will enjoy the old-fashioned dialogue and Charlotte's fanciful imagination.

I think this will be a really fun book for us to read. I just picked it up at the bookstore and it looks great so far.

For September, we'll read Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff.

For fourteen centuries the story of Arthur was a legend, misted over by the tradition of romantic hero-tales. But he was real--a man of towering strength, a dreamer and a warrior--who actually lived, and fought, and died for his impossible dream. The man whom legend calls Arthur of Britain combined the best of Roman civilization with the fierce dedication of his Celtic ancestors. Down through the generations his passionate determination to preserve the values of decency and freedom against the darkness of barbarism has been a clarion call that speaks to the best in humankind.

I got the idea for this one from the fabulous book Book Lust that my friend Kathleen game me. (Thanks, Kathleen! It's wonderful.) It's one of the author's favorite books and I've loved all the other books -- and I've read many -- on the legend of King Arthur. I figure that it's a pretty good bet we might enjoy it.